years later his greatest work, "Elijah," was performed in
England. Though widely different in form and treatment from "The
Messiah," it shares equally with that work in the enjoyment of popular
favor. Its numbers are almost as familiar as household words, through
constant repetition not only upon the oratorio stage, but in the
concert-room and choir-loft. In the presentation of the personalities
concerned in the progress of the work, in descriptive power, in the
portrayal of emotion and passion, and in genuine lyrical force, "Elijah"
has many of the attributes of opera, and some critics have not hesitated
to call it a sacred opera. Indeed, there can be no question that with
costume, scenery, and the aids of general stage-setting, its effect would
be greatly enhanced. Mendelssohn began still a third oratorio,
"Christus," but did not live to complete it. His "Lobgesang" ("Hymn of
Praise"), a symphony-cantata, is usually given as an oratorio, though it
is not in the genuine oratorio form. Contemporary with him and since his
death numerous oratorios have been written, more or less inspired by his
work; but "Elijah" and "St. Paul" still remain unsurpassed. Robert
Schumann gave the world a delightful oratorio with a secular subject,
"Paradise and the Peri." Numerous English composers have produced
meritorious works, among them Sterndale Bennett, whose "Woman of Samaria"
is thoroughly devotional. In Germany, Hiller, Rheinthaler, and others
have made successful essays in this form of musical art. In France,
Massenet and Saint-Saens have written short one-part oratorios, and
Gounod has constructed two, "The Redemption" and "Mors et Vita," upon the
old classical form, so far as division is concerned, and is now at work
upon a third, of which Joan of Arc is the theme. In "The Tower of Babel"
and "Paradise Lost," Rubinstein has given us works which are certainly
larger in design than the cantata, and are entitled to be called
oratorios. In our own country, Professor Paine, of Harvard University,
has written one oratorio, "St. Peter," which commands attention for its
scholarly work and musical treatment. Mendelssohn and Spohr, however,
represent the nineteenth century of oratorio as Haydn, Handel, and Bach
did the eighteenth. Who will take the next step forward in the twentieth,
and give to this noblest form of musical art still higher expression?

Before closing this sketch, it will not be out of place to refer briefly
to the Requi